Kuala Lumpur, April 21 – A Bangalore-bound Malaysian Airlines flight had to turn back after takeoff on Sunday night after a technical snag was found in the landing gear. The flight, which had 166 people on-board, landed safely at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 1.56am (local time), Malaysia Airlines (MAS) tweeted.
“The aircraft’s right-hand landing gear malfunctioned upon takeoff and was forced to turn back to Kuala Lumpur,” MAS said.
“All 159 passengers and 7 crew members on board are being disembarked from the aircraft.”
The jet, operated on the B737-800 aircraft, departed from Kuala Lumpur at 10.09pm (0721 IST).
Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein earlier said on his Twitter feed that a tyre was reported to have burst on takeoff.
“They have landed safely — thank God,” he tweeted.
The plane was scheduled to arrive in Bangalore at 11.35 pm (local time) the same day.
MAS said the flight had departed at 10.09pm (local time) tonight.
Hishammuddin is overseeing Malaysia’ response to Flight MH370 that crashed in the Indian Ocean with 239 people aboard on March 8.
A huge international search-and-rescue effort for any physical evidence of the plane’s wreckage, now in its seventh week, had so far proved fruitless.
Malaysia Airlines had said earlier that the Boeing 737-800, carrying 159 passengers and seven crew, had suffered a malfunction of its right-hand landing gear upon takeoff, and would be forced to attempt an emergency landing.
The website www.flightradar24.com, which displays live air traffic, showed Flight MH192 repeatedly circling Kuala Lumpur airport before the eventual landing.
Fire rescue services had been placed on standby, according to the airline.
Last month a Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in unexplained circumstances with 239 people on board, and the search for its presumed wreckage is still continuing in the Indian Ocean.
-India Today
